Dandelion: Up Against the Wall

Dandelions grow anywhere, it seems. That’s almost literally true. Dandelions can sprout in places that seem little short of miraculous, barren habitats where almost any other plant would throw in the towel. They seem to thrive in parking lots, sinking roots into rock-hard soil that’s driven over by cars, parked on by eighteen-wheeler trucks, and scraped and salted in wintertime. The tender green leaves shove their way through gravel and slice through layers of blacktop.

Dandelions are found world-wide, spread across the planet on every continent except Antarctica, below sea level and above tree-line, growing in fertile fields and desert canyons, lining the clay soil of riverbanks and basking in the sun on sand dunes. And they seem to have a special fondness for walls.

At the base of fences, walls, and building foundations, you often see a row of dandelion leaves poking up. That’s because the seeds, floating along on those little fuzzy parachutes, drift till they, well, hit the wall and then tumble down. If there’s the tiniest crack in the pavement, the tiny, sharp-pointed dandelion seed inveigles its way in, and germinates.

This dandelion is still showing its yellow lion’s mane even in chilly mid-November.